The Broken Code
Recap Picking up from the previous episode on Friday at 3:00 PM, (51 hours before the wedding), Barney confronts Ted over his meeting with Robin at the Central Park Carousel, specifically the tender moment Ted had shared with her by holding her hand. Ted explains he was only there to comfort Robin as a friend, and Barney seemingly accepts this. Lily has improved her Marshpillow to incorporate a tablet with Marshall communicating through video chat while he is en route to Farhampton. Robin is impressed with it, but wishes Lily had put more time in putting together her bachelorette party, in which no one but Patrice had showed up (much to Robin's anger). Lily apologizes, saying she was too busy planning the move to Rome, but later reveals the reason no-one came was because Robin doesn't seem to have any girlfriends. Robin admits she has trouble connecting with other women, and Lily decides Robin needs to have at least one other female friend while she is away in Rome for a year. Lily has Robin try to befriend women at the hotel bar, and eventually hits it off with someone who shares her love for hockey. Lily then imagines that they are both hanging out at Barney and Robin's apartment and Robin suggests that they start sleeping together, as friends and not unfaithful to their marriages (confirming Lily's bisexuality). Lily is immediately jealous and drives her away, and two decide they'll be fine as long as they have each other, seemingly ignoring the fact that Lily and Marshall are moving to Rome for a year. As Ted boasts about being the best man, including planning a poker game for Barney and handwriting the table cards for the reception in calligraphy, Barney informs Ted he accidentally forgot the cards, which Ted promptly agrees to remake. As part of Ted's best man duties, Barney also asks Ted to move from his current room to the basement to make room for a relative, and to house the cages for doves to be used at the wedding. When delivering the cards to Barney (after having to correct them again), Ted realizes Barney is mad at him for holding hands with Robin. Barney has chosen William Zabka to be the best man, who, along with Tim Gunn, and Ranjit have already started the poker game. Barney claims Ted's actions go against the Bro Code, which Ted disagrees. Unable to decide who is correct, the two request Marshall (via video chat) to weigh in. Marshall asks the two to recreate the events, with Ted asked to hold Barney's hand and offer comfort, and see if it feels weird or not. Ted admits he still sometimes has feelings for Robin, but promises Barney he won't do anything to get between them and that he will try to let those feelings go. Barney forgives Ted and during a poker game, Barney reinstates him as the best man, much to Zabka's evident displeasure. Continuity *Lily's Marshpillow was previously seen in . *Ted taking calligraphy classes was previously mentioned in . *Barney has teased Ted about sleeping with his mom in previous episodes. *Barney has broken the Bro Code when he slept with Robin as was revealed in . *Robin has previously mentioned that she was raised as a boy. This was first mentioned in . *Lily says "I will cut you!" in this episode. She has said this before in . *Ted and Robin had a discussion about Ted shutting down his feelings for Robin using an "off-switch" soon after they met in . *William Zabka was first seen in . *Ted mentions Barney was in a laser tag fight; this occurred during . Barney has also expressed his love for laser tag in the past. *Lily decided to take a page out of The Playbook by having Robin try to connect with Amanda who was crying at the bar. Barney attempted to do something similar in the beginning of . *Lily fears that Robin and Amanda will become best friends and will develop a sexual relationship. Lily's attraction to Robin has been shown in previous episodes (see Lily's Bisexuality). *Marshall uses "E-Lawyered" since he's only virtually present. *Barney and Ted are on the ground holding hands in the same way as Ted and Robin had previously sat in Something Old. As soon as Ted and Barney start talking about Ted's actual feelings for Robin, it begins raining heavily, just as it had in the previous season with Ted and Robin. *In , Lily gets called a bitch after saying she "lost all this weight without even trying." Similarly, when Robin talks about her spontaneous weight loss Lily starts seething. Future References (Contains Spoilers) *The poker game for the groomsman will be the focal point of . * Barney will reveal what actually went on between him and Ted's mom in . Gallery The Broken Code 2.jpg Brokencodetimgunn.jpg 103584 D0537b.jpg 103584 D0310b.jpg 103584 D0367b.jpg 103584 D0383b.jpg brocode1.jpg|"I saw you and Robin at the Carousel" brocode2.jpg|Ted drops the $600 bottle of Scotch! brocode3.jpg|Barney went to Robin afterall only to witness Robin holding Ted's hand. brocode4.jpg|Robin initiated the hand holding. She grabbed his hand. brocode5.jpg|Whatup! brocode6.jpg|Ted and Barney cry over broken Scotch. brocode7.jpg|Marshpillow brocode8.jpg fff.jpg|Testing if it's 'weird' Memorable Quotes Notes and Trivia Goofs and Errors * For the final poker hand Barney folds, then Ted, William Zabka, and Tim Gunn fold. Then Ranjit raises, and Marshall goes all in. This is incorrect. Poker players always act 'in turn' going clockwise around the table. Based on the dialog Marshall had to make a raise (before the scene starts), then Barney and the other players folded, Ranjit thought he had the best hand and re-raised Marshall, and then Marshall went all in. * Lily says that Robin doesn't have any girls, but after Robin reconciled with Jessica Glitter in Lily probably should've thought to invite her to Robin's bachelorette party. * Robin and Amanda bond over their hatred of the Boston Bruins. The actual game took place on May 16, 2013 (a week before this episode takes place) where the Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-2. *When Ted and Robin are shown holding hands in the rain, it's nighttime already but in Something Old it was daytime. * Once the rain sets in on the beach scene, the microphone gets wet and affects the audio quality. You're able to see Barney's microphone under his white shirt in several shots where it's wet. *In the , Robin has three friends waiting for her at the bar, while Robin is throwing the drink at Ted's face, but in this episode, Lily says that Robin has no friends. However it can be assumed that Robin is no longer in contact with these friends 8 years later. Allusions and Outside References *This episode's name is a reference to The Bro Code. *Marshall mentions . The final scene with Barney, Ted, and Marshpillow in their bathing suits watching women go by is another reference to Weekend at Bernie's. *When Robin sees a woman at the bar wearing tennis shoes, she alludes to the filibuster by Texas Senator . *When Ted complains about William Zabka wearing the best man hat, Barney says "He's the best around." This is a reference to the song played during the final fight of , " ." **That song is also on Barney's Get Psyched Mix. *Lily and Ted making jokes with the pronunciation of the car rental company Hertz, which is pronounced 'hurts' in English. *Barney states that the Bro Code is now also available in airlines throughout the US and at which is a German airline because Der Bro Code is quite big in Germany. *Barney's made up history lessons refer to Moses and the 10 Commandments, discovering America, and , whereby Barney mixes data and time a lot: Columbus discovered America in 1492 so he could not sail in 1776 and also Pocahontas was dead by that time (1617). Ted also corrects Barney and reminds him that Pocahontas was with John Smith, an English explorer while Columbus was an Italian explorer commissioned by the Spanish crown. *Robin tells Lily that she had been dressing up Marshpillow like , 's lover boy doll. *Robin's deep-seated hatred for the is likely due to the losing to the Boston Bruins during the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2011, one of the most heart-wrenching games for Canucks fans like herself. Music Simple Minds - Waterfront Other Notes *The Bro Code that Barney shows to Ted is the actual version released commercially in real life, and looks different from Barney's personal copies from earlier episodes. * The end credits state "Matt Kuhn, author of 'The Bro Code,' writes for this program. Published by a division of Simon & Shuster, a CBS company." *Barney mentions that there's an article in the Bro Code that says "A bro shall not have a weird moment with another bro's fiancee," though he is unable to find it. *Article 104 does say "mom of a bro is always off-limits," as Ted says. *When Robin hears Patrice's voice in her bachelorette party, she makes her dangerous face described in . *Cristin Milioti is now the second person to be credited in an episode in which they do not appear; the first was Alyson Hannigan. Guests *Marshall Manesh - Ranjit *Tim Gunn - Himself * - Amanda *Ellen D. Williams - Patrice *Robert Belushi - Linus *Di Koob - Lauren *Cate Scott Campbell - Lisa *William Zabka - Himself Podcast Featuring Matt Kuhn. Reception * Donna Bowman of the gave the episode a B-.http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-broken-code,103731/ * Max Nicholson of gave the episode a 7 out of 10.http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/08/how-i-met-your-mother-the-broken-code-review * Angel Cohn of gave the episode a C-.http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how-i-met-your-mother/the-broken-code/ * The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 8 out of 10 stars. "...another bottle of Scotch down..." References External Links Category:Season 9 Category:Episodes